Pages

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Not that bad and yet that bad: President Joyce Banda needs serious Public Relations services

No human being is perfect; there goes the century-old cliché.
That be true as it certainly is, whatever is made by or of humans is
consequently not perfect. A government is made of humans. It follows therefore
that no government is perfect. However, with the right dosage of treatment
perfection can be made to exist in humans.

Excellent clothes hides the imperfections of physique, a good
tone of cosmetics hides the imperfections of the face, a high-heeled shoes aces
one’s height, all seems perfect. The story is different when it comes to the
public sphere where, issues of looks have little bearing on one’s destiny. In
this sphere, issues of public standing make or break destinies. In this
respect, one needs an expert in communications to be able create and maintain a
positive public standing. And it is here that one needs Public Relations (PR)
services.

In this modern day and age, every government, organization,
and individual that ignores the power of public relations does so at its own
peril. Those with the PR know-how, like this author, would agree that the
miscommunications and misinformation in the Joyce Banda administration show a
clear irrevocable deficiency of weapons in government’s PR armor.

Cases in point of this deficiency are evidently many and common,
almost a part of this government. One such classic case was that of president
Banda versus Madonna controversy. It was widely reported in the local and
international press that a communiqué was released in the president’s office
waging a lingual tirade to Madonna without the president’s consent. And the
drama got heightened when it came to crisis-communicating the same. Gosh! That
was a PR disaster.

Much more recently there has been talk of the
non-formalization of labor deal between the Malawian and the South Korean
governments that also showed the crazy lack of PR expertise on the part of all
institutions and individuals directly connected in the deal.

It is normal, no matter how abnormal this may sound, that at
times governments around the world do disinform its citizens. There was
therefore no problem in Malawi government to panic after South Korea publicly
denied any formal talks about the labor.

But eeish it was drama again! The Minister of Labor
confusingly defended the deal only to be tragically contradicted by the
Minister of Information. That clearly showed that the two ministries did not do
their homework well and that they are far from mastering the basics of
audience-targeting, messaging and crisis communication skills.

Just to put people in the loop, messaging is the practice of
having one version of a situation so much so that every concerned individual is
brief of the narrative to kill any confusion and make the narrative believable.
Using this skill, the government would have told those tasked to speak on its
behalf to comment only as communicated and refrain from making any wayward
comments. Sometimes the communication does go as agreed. It is at this time
that a good PR calls their crisis communications skills into action and clear
the confusion.

These basic skills happen to be nowhere to be seen in
President Banda government, and she is paying for that quiet dearly.
Consequently, president Banda is portrayed in the public domain as that bad;
she is portrayed as having no observable control in practice, and as having no
clear information management direction. And when the nasty information goes out
as it always does, there happens to be literally nothing done to
damage-control. Worse still, if some government agent jets in the scene for
that, it is always drama and tragicomedy all over.

It is with sadness that the noted that President Joyce Banda
may not as bad as she looks in the public eyes of many, especially the educated
minority. But that is the case because there seems to be tactful either
personal PR of the president or her government to talk sense-and-nonsense of
government communication.

To this end, this author closes the foregoing by asserting
that the president may not that bad after all, although she looks that bad to
many Malawians. And it is exactly at this juncture that the author tells it as
it is; President Joyce Banda needs serious PR services.

No comments:

Followers

About Me

I am a self-styled critical theorist, political analyst, and self-liberated rationalist who believes that silence breeds despotism and all its attendant eyesores.
I believe that objective, analytical, and informed opinions and analyses are a critical ingredient to a true emancipation of humanity from the chains of socio-political and economic cannibalism.
This blog is thus dedicated to expressing disinterested thoughts and opinions,though opinionatedly. It however remains my considered belief that people with strong in freedom and fairness will find this blog a trusted companion.
Contacts;
Email: chizimbahenry@gmail.com
Cell: 0999 147 730
0884 245 718